Division of Bowman

Bowman Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Bowman in Queensland, as of the 2019 federal election.
Created	1949
MP	Andrew Laming
Party	Liberal National
Namesake	David Bowman
Electors	109,454 (2019)
Area	536 km2 (207.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Outer Metropolitan

The Division of Bowman is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland.

History[]

David Bowman, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1949 and is named for David Bowman, an early leader of the Australian Labor Party, in Queensland. The seat consists of the entirety of Redland City, located in the eastern suburbs of Brisbane, and includes the suburbs of Capalaba, Cleveland, Redland Bay, Birkdale, Thorneside, Alexandra Hills, Thornlands, Mount Cotton, Ormiston, Wellington Point and Victoria Point. The division also incorporates various islands of Moreton Bay including Coochiemudlo Island, the inhabited southern Bay Islands (Russell, Karragarra, Macleay and Lamb) and the big tourist destination of North Stradbroke Island.

It is generally a residential electorate with some crops, poultry, various light industries and tourism.

Bowman has traditionally been a highly marginal seat, regularly changing hands between the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party. Notably, the electorate has been won by the party with the largest national two party preferred vote at every election from 1954 to 2001 (except 1990). However, in the 2004 election, an energetic campaign by Dr Andrew Laming, and an electoral redistribution (due to the creation of the new Division of Bonner, leading veteran Bowman MP Con Sciacca to contest this new seat), saw Bowman returned to the Liberal Party by a significant margin (59.12% 2PP). The division was then considered by pollsters such as Antony Green to be a fairly safe Liberal seat.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2007 election, the electorate experienced a strong swing of 8.86% towards the Australian Labor Party; the incumbent Laming held the seat by 0.04%, or 64 votes. This made it second only to McEwen as the most marginal seat in the country, although the 2009 electoral redistribution in Queensland saw the margin notionally reduced further, to effectively 0.005%, making Bowman Australia's most marginal seat at the time.^[1] Laming went on to retain the seat comfortably for the Liberal National Party of Queensland in: 2010, regaining ground with a 9.51% swing towards him; 2013, despite a 6.35% swing against him; and 2016, when all parties saw a positive swing in Bowman (for the first time since 1955), due to the absence of a Palmer United Party candidate.

Members[]

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Malcolm McColm (1914–1966)	Liberal	10 December 1949 – 9 December 1961	Lost seat
		Jack Comber (1919–1992)	Labor	9 December 1961 – 30 November 1963	Lost seat
		Dr Wylie Gibbs (1922–)	Liberal	30 November 1963 – 25 October 1969	Lost seat
		Len Keogh (1931–2007)	Labor	25 October 1969 – 13 December 1975	Lost seat
		David Jull (1944–2011)	Liberal	13 December 1975 – 5 March 1983	Lost seat. Later elected to the Division of Fadden in 1984
		Len Keogh (1931–2007)	Labor	5 March 1983 – 5 June 1987	Lost preselection and retired
		Con Sciacca (1947–2017)	Labor	11 July 1987 – 2 March 1996	Served as minister under Keating. Lost seat
		Andrea West (1952–2010)	Liberal	2 March 1996 – 3 October 1998	Lost seat
		Con Sciacca (1947–2017)	Labor	3 October 1998 – 31 August 2004	Did not contest in 2004. Failed to win the Division of Bonner
		Andrew Laming (1966–)	Liberal	9 October 2004 – 19 July 2010	Incumbent
			Liberal Nationals	19 July 2010 – present

Election results[]

References[]

External links[]

• Division of Bowman (Qld) — Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 27°34′48″S 153°14′31″E / 27.580°S 153.242°E / -27.580; 153.242